


Self-induced Memory Loss

by DesperateShipper



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, OUAT - Freeform, Post-Winter Finale 3x11, SQ - Freeform, Swan Mills Family, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swen Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:31:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesperateShipper/pseuds/DesperateShipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's left when you discover that you can't trust your own memories? The past isn't always how you remember it. Regina created knew memories for Emma and Henry... or did she? - Picks up at the end of the winter finale (3x11)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swanqueenidiot](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=swanqueenidiot).



> Disclaimer : I don't own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, just borrowing them for personal experiments and inspiration-feeding.
> 
> A/N : This is the first time I've ever posted a fic, even though I've been writing for some time now. I don't pretend I'm an 'author', I just wanted to share this with you. I hope you'll like it! Feedback - whether positive or negative - is greatly appreciated, it's the only way I can improve myself. Well, that, and writing again and again of course. Frankly I'd love to know what you've thought about it! If you have any questions or comments, you can review or PM me =)
> 
> This fanfiction is a Secret Santa gift to the amazing swanqueenidiot on Tumblr.

Regina took Emma's hand.

"I can't preserve your memories, but I can give you new ones, good ones… You'll always have been with Henry. You'll be both happy..." Regina looked in Emma's eyes and felt her heart tightening when she saw the tears running down the blonde's cheeks.

She didn't want Emma to leave and she didn't want to lose Henry.

He was the person she cherished the most in this world and she would give anything not to be forced to let him go.

But magic always comes with a price, and Henry was the price to pay to send them all back where they belonged. It wouldn't work if he stayed with her.

It was truly the hardest thing she would ever have to do. Letting him go…

Since she didn't have a choice, she wanted to at least give them both the best life she could. They deserved to remember never being forced apart. They deserved a happy ending of some sort, even if it didn't really feel like one.

Emma would take good care of him, because the blonde loved their son as much as she did.

"But it won't be true," Emma argued, having trouble getting the words out of her mouth. "It'll be nothing but a lie."

She didn't want to separate Henry from his family; she didn't want to lose her parents now. It was too soon. They'd barely had the time to get to know one another. They had been waiting for so long before they had found one another. But they finally had. They always did, it ran in the family.

And now, what? She was just supposed to leave, forget everything? Forget that her parents hadn't abandoned her? Forget those precious years when she'd had people to actually care about? And how was she supposed to take Henry away from his mom?

She herself might be Henry's birth mother, but she certainly wasn't his mom.

Breaking the curse was about to tear apart yet another family instead of bringing back all the happy endings. Talk about side effects.

Leaving had never been so heartbreaking before. She couldn't just give up, not without trying.

"Are you absolutely certain there is no other way?" Emma asked with a trembling voice. "There has to be something we can do …"

She locked eyes with Regina and saw only despair. Emma knew that if there was anything the brunette could do to fix all this, she would. There was simply no way out.

Henry, standing between his two moms, remained silent. His overwhelming emotions prevented him from voicing a single word.

He had to say goodbye, but not as in a "see-you-soon" kind of good-bye. He wouldn't even remember his own mom. The former Evil Queen sure, but his mom nonetheless.

The one who had tucked him into bed for ten years, who soothed him when he woke up in the middle of a nightmare, late at night, the one who watched him all night long sat in a chair by his bed when he was sick, who always made sure he hadn't forgotten about his homework.

He was thankful to Emma for doing her best to find a solution, but he already knew in his heart they had no other choice but to leave the town and everyone they loved. They had to just leave them all behind.

Not willing to waste any more of the precious time he had left, he turned to Regina, circling her waist, hugging her as close as he could. He buried his face against his mom's chest as they held each other for a while.

She returned the hug, her gaze never leaving Emma.

She was a little appeased by the reassuring look on her face. It was a look that said everything Emma couldn't say out loud. She understood Regina's worries and she wanted to tell her it would be ok. Everything would be ok. She'd never let anything happen to Henry, no matter what she did or didn't remember. She wanted to tell Regina that she could be trusted.

Regina didn't exactly have a say in this, but she believed her. She was good at reading people and what she saw in the depths of Emma's intent gaze was her determination to make things right.

Feeling a bit less insecure, Regina loosened her grip on her son and eventually let go of him. Henry looked up at her and simply said "I love you, mom".

She couldn't stop her own tears from falling now. He would forget, but she wouldn't. She would never stop wondering where he was or what he was doing, praying for him to be all right.

"I love you too Henry. So very much" she answered, a small smile gracing her lips as she leaned closer to kiss his forehead.

Then Emma took Henry's left hand, his right never leaving Regina's. Together, they walked over to Emma's yellow bug. Once Emma and Henry were both in the car, Regina took the curse out of her coat's pocket and as she crushed it, a purple glow surrounded her hands.

They didn't have much time left now. Pan's green curse was getting closer and closer by the minute. Regina raised her hands, purple mist escaping her palms to meet with green mist high above their heads, as she nodded at Emma so that the blonde would start the car.

As the car was slowly set in motion, and before it could cross the town line, Henry brushed his hand against Regina's arm in one last silent goodbye.

Soon, purple mist washed over the scenery, a wave engulfing everything in its wake, hiding from sight both the little crowd standing inside the town line and the car on the other side.

As the mist dissipated in the air, Storybrooke's former inhabitants were able to take a look at their surroundings.

Everyone in presence released a breath no one had been aware of holding.

They were finally back home.

The woods around them weren't Storybrooke's. They were back in the Enchanted Forest, back to their old land.

Both crushed at the idea of having lost her daughter one more time and relieved to finally be home, Mary-Margaret turned towards David to seek comfort in him.

She immediately noticed that something was off. He seemed lost, looking everywhere around him as if he was searching for something, his brows slightly furrowed.

"What's going on?" Mary-Margaret asked, worry tainting her voice.

"David, is everything all right? What's wrong?"

He finally looked down to her.

"Regina's not here with us," he said in a confused tone. "Where is she?"


	2. A Very Swan-Mills Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos, and my apologies for the delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter =)

She was sitting stiffly in her seat, her head leaning lightly against the doorframe. She looked intently outside the window, her gaze wandering over the giant trees half covered in snow aligned on the side of the road the car was taking.

Well, the car or rather the “yellow death trap” as she was so used to affectionately calling it.

She had some sort of a love-hate relationship with that vehicle. She hated the lack of comfort and she hated it even more when it was so cold that her breath was clouding in front of her despite the fact that the heater was turned up to the max.

Pretty much like it was now.

But then she remembered with fondness all the good memories that car elicited and it brought a smile to her lips. It was such an important piece of the puzzle that was their life and family. It had seen many fights and reconciliations and it had been there to see them reach quite a few milestones, in every sense of the word.

For now however, it wasn’t because of the car that Regina was cursing under her breath.

“Brilliant. Truly a brilliant idea. I don’t even know why I got myself into this. What was I thinking? Really, this is completely ridiculous. When I think that we could be in Boston right now…”

Emma was trying really hard to keep her eyes focused on the road ahead of her but she couldn’t completely obliterate Regina’s comments and she could see her frowning from the corner of her eye.

Going to the cabin for Christmas was her idea, even though Henry’s puppy eyes when he had heard her mention it to Regina had certainly helped her cause. A special look designed by herself to make Regina melt long before Henry was even born and the first thing she had ever taught him.

Regina could never refuse anything to her wife and son when she found herself under the combined attack of ‘the look’. They knew it and they often took advantage of it.

And now each word Regina uttered made Emma feel more and more guilty.

They used to spend their summer vacation at the lake before, just the three of them, but they hadn’t been there for a while and Emma had thought it would be the perfect occasion to go back.

Building snowmen and ice-skating and snuggling with hot drinks under the blankets while watching the flames dance in the large fireplace sounded like a great way to spend the holidays.

Until they had run out of dry wood and realized the heater was broken that is.

So there they were, making the three-hour drive back to Boston on Christmas day.

She gave her wife a worried sidelong look. She was worried for herself of course. ‘Regina’ and ‘pissed off’ were words you didn’t want to hear in the same sentence.

“I’m so…”

“Don’t bother,” interrupted Regina. “You said that already. It’s not like it was the first time anyway. You always come up with the best ideas until the plan completely falls apart.”

“I just wanted to make it special. Plus, you can’t deny it was still fun. I never took you for such a sore loser at snowball fights.”

“I wasn’t being a ‘sore loser’! You obviously enrolled Henry to side with you. You literally both turned against me. It’s you who weren’t playing fair,” Regina said in a defensive tone with half a pout.

Emma couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

“Who ever said you couldn’t have allies during a snowball fight? Imagine war without allies. How do you think that would work?”

“Snowball fights are nothing like war, dear. It’s merely a childish game.”

“Precisely,” Emma retorted with a much bigger smile. “That’s why I’m surprised to see you so angry about it.”

“Come on, don’t try to make it about that now. You know it’s not why I’m angry so just drop it. I’m angry because of you. We had to leave in a hurry and it’s your fault. You wanted us to go there in the first place? Well, you should have made sure we could actually stay there without dying from the cold before New Year’s Eve.”

“Oh so now you’re telling me you actually didn’t want to leave, huh.”

Emma couldn’t resist. She found Regina so damn adorable when she got angry. Not that she liked it when she was mad at her. Hell, only someone completely insane would ever want Regina Mills to be so much as annoyed with them.

She knew she was in the clear when Regina cracked a smile, unable to regain composure before Emma averted her eyes from the road just in time to catch sight of it.

Regina was used to having the last word. This time it was too late.

Emma reached blindly for Regina’s hand and squeezed it.

“I’m really sorry, love. Don’t you think we spent a really nice few days up there? Aren’t you happy?”

“We did…” Regina admitted in a low voice. “And I am happy whenever I’m with you and Henry. I hope you know that. I could never have found happiness without you both coming into my life. I just wish we could have stayed a little while longer away from the world. Away from everyone and everything, just the three of us.”

“I’m happy with you too,” answered Emma giving her wife a quick loving look before turning her gaze back to the road.

Regina took Emma’s hand between hers and lifted it to kiss her knuckles lightly.

A voice came from the back seat.

“Ew, get a room!”

Both women jumped in their seats. Regina spun her head around and Emma glanced in the rear-view mirror.

“Henry! I thought you were asleep!”

“I was. Until the birds currently flying in circles around both of your love-struck heads made enough noise to wake me up.” Henry said with a mischievous grin.

He very much enjoyed the banter his moms so often indulged in. And he admired how after so much time together they were still in love with each other to the point of making any witness nauseous.

“Hmm… Mom?”

“Yes, Henry?”

“Can you and Mama tell me that story again?” he said with a pleading tone.

“Which story?” Regina asked with a curious frown.

“The first one” Henry said, handing his mom a thick volume.

Regina took it with a smile. It was one of his Christmas gifts and he already liked it so much he wouldn’t let it out of his sight.

She let her fingertips trace the curves of the gold letters imprinted on the cover: _Once Upon a Time: a Swan-Mills Chronicle_.

Then she opened the first page and laid her eyes on a picture of the three of them beaming at the camera. Or to be precise, a much younger version of Emma and herself sitting on a hospital bed and beaming at the camera, hugging closely a baby Henry already fast asleep between them.

She took Emma’s hand back, and the two women shared a knowing smile.

“Once upon a time…” Emma began, then nodded at Regina to go on.

“The best thing that ever happened to us… happened. It was you.”


	3. A Tenuous Link

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back! It was longer than I expected and I'm truly sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you'll like the chapter =)

       Regina took a deep breath and started narrating the ‘Operation Baby’. She found the name quite silly but Emma had always insisted on calling it that way and it had become a habit of hers to use the expression as well.

“One evening, your Mama and I were having dinner, when she dropped the bomb.” Regina was smiling as the memories from that night came back to her mind.

“A bomb? Exaggerating, much?”

Regina raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t think so, dear. We had been together for a year or so when it happened. It was hasty at best.”

“Whatever,” Emma answered with a shrug. “It was the right time.”

“I didn’t say otherwise, did I?” Regina winked at the blonde. “Anyway, I was surprised when she blurted out ‘I want a baby’ completely out of the blue,” Regina carried on.

“ _Surprised_?” Emma interrupted once again with a mocking grin. “Only _surprised_? I had never seen you drop your fork before!” She was openly laughing now.

“See, you don’t say it right. You leave out the best parts. You’re the writer; I’m the teller. Let me go on now, please?” Emma glanced at her wife with a pleading look.

Regina always argued that it was precisely her point. If she could _write_ a story, then she was well placed to actually _tell_ one as well. She wrote children’s books, and everybody agreed upon the fact that she truly was a talented author, even though Henry unquestionably held the title of the number one fan.

But it was part of the ritual, and rituals were important in the Swan-Mills family.

Emma would say the magic sentence that introduced every new story, _once upon a time_ , and then Regina would take over from there. Before long, Emma would cut her off to add a ‘major detail’ and then it would be Regina’s turn to intervene and so on.

“Well, I’m too tired to fight over that. If you’re going to contradict everything I say, you might as well tell the whole story,” the brunette sighed. She knew she was powerless against _the look_. “I’ll fill in the blanks.”

Maybe, just maybe, rituals were meant to evolve.

“So… Then, your Mom stared at me dumbfounded, and I _swear_ that was priceless. I’ve never forgotten her face in that precise moment. I think the only other time I’ve ever saw it was when you were born and the nurse put you in her arms for the first time,” Emma said, her voice softening.

“You’re missing quite a few steps, Emma,” Regina noticed. She was unable to hide the fondness showing in her own voice at the memory.

“Well I did say we should keep the best moments of the story,” Emma stated with a smirk. She glanced in the rear-view mirror to meet with Henry’s chocolate gaze.

He was listening to his Mama avidly with an ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face.

“Once she had recovered from the shock, she… Well we talked about it and decided together that it wasn’t such a ridiculous idea after all.”

Emma and Regina exchanged a knowing look and lost themselves in the happy memory…

 

_“Emma, you’re aware we’re not even married, right?” Regina remarked, reaching for her glass of red wine and sipping it slowly to gain some time to gather her thoughts._

_“Married? I didn’t know you were so traditional about the whole ‘getting married before having kids’ thing,” Emma replied with a timid smile. “Do_ youwant _to get married?”_

_“It’s not even legal in Massachusetts,” Regina noted with a nod. “I don’t know actually, I’ve never even thought about it!”_

_“There’s no rush Regina. We don’t have to do anything today. Or tomorrow, for that matter,” Emma added quickly when she saw the look on Regina’s face._

_“Maybe the day after?” She giggled with a wink. Regina seemed to relax a bit and a tight-lipped smile even appeared on her lips._

_Emma thought that maybe, just maybe, everything was not lost. Maybe for once, she hadn’t screwed it up from the very beginning. Maybe she hadn’t wasted her only chance to ever learn the meaning of a ‘happy ending’._

_Regina put her glass down and cleared her throat before answering._

_“You know, the U-Haul joke is only funny if it remains a_ cliché _that isn’t actually verified.”_

_“I don’t mind commitment if I know it’s a promise that is to be kept and not just meaningless words. The only question is: do you want that, and are you ready for it?”_

_Emma stopped to take a deep breath and calm her nerves. She couldn’t take it back; she might as well finish what she’d started._

_“If not, then I’ll wait. I’ll wait for you to be ready, because I’m sure of what I want and I know I don’t want it with any one else.”_

_Emma felt anxiety rising up inside her as she spoke and she couldn’t even look Regina in the eyes anymore. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff. She could practically see the waves raging far below and hear the wind whistle in her ears in a deafening roar._

_Regina could say no. She could object to it because it wasn’t what she wanted at all, or because she couldn’t imagine a life with her. Right now the brunette had all powers over her. She could crush her heart or she could…_

_Regina was stunned by Emma’s declaration. She was impressed with the blonde’s openness about her feelings, she was usually holding on them so tight. The brunette leaned forward and placed her forefinger under Emma’s chin so that she could look into the blonde’s eyes._

_“Are you proposing to me?”_

_Emma lifted her head and her eyes lit up._

_“I- I guess?” Emma sounded uncertain, afraid that she might have not heard Regina right. “Are you saying yes?” She swallowed hard._

_“Sorry Emma, what was the question again?” Regina teased with a grin._

_“Uh, well…” Emma suddenly propped herself up wringing her hands and dropped to Regina’s feet the second after._

_She took her hand and plunged in the loving gaze awaiting her._

_“Regina Mills, will you marry me -whenever the state says it’s legal- and have a baby or ten with me?” Emma asked with a solemn expression._

_The hope had now replaced the anxiety. She was beaming under the straight face she tried to maintain and her heart was beating so hard in her chest that she thought it would literally burst out of her ribcage._

_“Well Miss Swan, I don’t know about ten babies… Why don’t we start with one and go from there? I only have one condition…”_

_Emma looked suddenly worried._

_“What is it?”_

_“I’d like to keep my name…” Regina whispered._

_“Oh hell, you scared me!” Emma exclaimed, straightening up and coming to sit in Regina’s lap. “So is it a yes?”_

_“Yes, Emma. It’s a yes,” Regina nodded with a wide smile._

_Putting her arms around the brunette, clinging to her neck, Emma murmured, “I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” before leaning down to kiss her._

 

       Henry was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable and started fidgeting in his seat. The car had been quiet for a few minutes now and he could tell from the distant silence in which his moms had withdrawn that they were lost to the world.

He cleared his throat loudly to try and get a reaction from either one of them. Finally, Emma seemed to notice him and broke her silence.

“Sorry, what was I saying? Oh, right, when she said yes. Well after that the only thing we had to do was to find a suitable donor.”

Regina in turn broke her own silence.

“Your Mama would have picked any random man if it hadn’t been for me,” she chuckled.

“It’s not true,” Emma retorted. “I had conditions…”

“ _One_ condition, and what a condition!” Regina mocked with a teasing tone. “You wanted the donor to have my eyes.”

“I didn’t want the _donor_ to have your eyes, I wanted Henry to have them,” Emma retorted. “I wanted to see a part of you when I looked at him and not a complete stranger. Thank god he didn’t get _my_ eyes.”

“You have beautiful eyes too Mom,” Henry smiled.

Regina nodded in approval.

“You should listen to our son more often dear, he’s always right. Another thing he gets from me.”

Emma shook her head. She would never win this round. “Look who’s enrolling Henry now,” she giggled.

Regina winked at Emma. “I’m a quick learner, dear.”

Emma gave up. “ _Anyway_ , once we had agreed on a donor, the doctors helped us with the practical details and soon I discovered I was pregnant.”

“Then, after a few months of waiting and a few more hours of your Mama’s bone-crushing grip on my hand, we got to finally hold you. And yes, I was stunned to see how perfect you were with your tiny hands reaching out for my face and your eyes that looked just like mine.”

Regina was getting emotional, something her wife and son were the only two human beings on earth able to cause. She looked down at the photo album still in her lap and smiled at the picture of her family. _Her_ family. She closed the album and handed it back to Henry.

“There are many other stories in there,” Henry noted. “Will you tell me those too, both of you?” he asked, hopeful.

“Of course Henry,” Emma agreed. “But what if we had some hot chocolate with cinnamon to warm us up, before that?” she offered.

Henry and Regina looked up and realized they were finally home. Emma parked the car in front of the house and smiled at them. “See? It wasn’t such a painful journey.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Regina admitted. “Why don’t you two get inside and make the hot chocolate? I’ll get the bags.”

Emma nodded. She stopped the car and handed the keys to Regina, then opened the door and got out. Walking the few meters to the house, she shoved her hand into her pocket to retrieve her set of keys.

She climbed the doorsteps and stopped for a moment right in front of the wooden door. A strange feeling washed over her. Her vision blurred and for a few seconds she stood there completely still, with the impression that she didn’t recognize her own house, as if she was staring at another front door. She turned to Henry, standing behind her and Regina, still rummaging through the trunk but the only clear image she could see was that of the unknown door imprinted on her retina.

“Mama, you okay?”

She had to blink her eyes several times before the image finally started fading. Emma shook her head to shrug the feeling off. It must have been the tiredness due to the long drive that made things a bit unclear.

“Yes, Henry. Everything’s fine,” she replied, looking down to him.

“It’s cold out there, we should get inside,” Henry told her with a worried look.

“You’re right, kid,” Emma answered flatly. She opened the door and glanced at her wife before leading the way towards the kitchen.

Regina, oblivious to the incident, went up the stairs slightly out of breath as she lifted the heavy luggage and followed her wife and son inside the house.

"Home sweet home,” she sighed as she closed the door behind her after putting down the bags she was carrying.

* * *

 

       Meanwhile, far away from Boston, several people were going along a narrow path, the large trees surrounding them almost blocking out the sunlight.

After heatedly debating and looking for Regina for a long time, they had finally agreed on two facts. The first was that the other inhabitants had probably been sent back to various locations all over the kingdom. The second was that Regina being the one who had broken the curse, it would explain why she had been separated from them in the process. They had then decided on moving from their spot in the middle of the woods and finding their way to the capital.

In this world there was no Mary-Margaret and David, only the King and Queen of the Enchanted Forest returning home. As such, it was their duty to lead and protect their people, even though they considered them to be their friends more than their subjects. And so Snow and Charming showed the way as the leaders they were supposed to be, guiding the small group through the forest.

The only sounds were the cracking of twigs under their steps, the whistle of wind in the branches and the occasional tweets of birds hidden from their sights.

They all had been silent the whole time, lost in their thoughts. They had only exchanged a few words when they had taken a break to rest their legs and drink some water. The walk had been long and the exhaustion due both to the painfully emotional day and the physical effort was now showing on every face.

Soon, they left the cover of the trees where the path came out on a large valley. A few more hundred meters and they would finally be there.  Charming looked over his shoulder at their companions without slowing his pace.

Hook and Neal, who were becoming more and more withdrawn as the time passed, were following closely behind, staring blankly ahead.

He was more worried about Granny, who was falling behind. She had alleged that she knew the woods and that she wanted to have their backs but she didn’t fool anyone. She looked rather pale and had trouble breathing. But then, she had too much pride to acknowledge her tiredness and nobody would ever dare to contradict the fierce lady. Charming was glad they were almost there now.

Then there was Belle. Tears had been silently falling down her cheeks since they had left Storybrooke and she didn’t bother to wipe them away anymore. She didn’t want anyone to comfort her and she didn’t think time would ever help heal the wound. Rumple’s disappearance felt like a death sentence and she knew she would never be able to fully live without him.

She almost envied Snow and Charming. At least they knew that Emma and Henry were living happily somewhere, they were safe and they had each other. She felt terrible just for thinking such a thing but she couldn’t help herself. Their life, they future in this land that felt somehow foreign didn’t mean much without someone to share it with.

As they got closer to the entrance of the castle, Snow felt her heart sink. She glanced at Charming and saw the same feeling reflecting in his eyes. They realized at once that the home they had been desperate to go back to didn’t exist anymore.

The structure was still standing defiantly, as high and majestic as ever, but ‘home’ wasn’t what they had left behind thirty years ago. It was Emma and Henry, and their life as a family.

As much as the palace brought back all sorts of happy memories, it would merely be somewhere to live. It would have to be enough for now though, at least until they could bring Emma and Henry back. Because they _would_ , no matter how hard it would be or how long it would take. Then maybe they would belong there again.

“We have to find them. We _have_ to,” Snow said in a low voice.

Charming took her hand in his with a reassuring squeeze.

“Don’t worry about that, we will. Charming’s always find one another, remember?” He winked at her wife with half a smile.

Once they arrived in front of the castle, they went up the stairs leading to the main doors. When he got onto the highest step, Charming looked ahead at Snow, who had got past him. She was rooted to her spot, facing the doors, when a strangled cry escaped her lips.

“Henry…!”

She turned to the others, unable to get her bearings. She reached blindly for Charming as if to make sure he was still there.

“What’s going on?” Charming pressed worriedly. “Snow, are you alright?” he asked when she didn’t react.

“I saw him, I saw… Henry,” she answered blankly, stumbling on the words.

She wasn’t steady on her legs. She was shaking and tears threatened to spill out. Charming helped her sit down and sat next to her, holding her tight as the others came to sit on the lower steps.

“It’s okay. Everything’s fine, you just take a deep breath,” he whispered, kissing her temple.

After a few minutes, she managed to even her breath. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Neal intervened.

“I’m not sure. It all happened so fast… It was over in a matter of seconds, really.”

“You said you’ve seen Henry. Was he okay? Did you see anything else?”

“Yes, he seemed to be perfectly fine… I was standing there and everything became blurry. It’s like I was on another doorstep, a much smaller one. I turned around and I saw Henry, but also Emma’s car, and…” Her voice trailed off, she wasn’t sure of what she had seen. She was probably just imagining things anyway.

“Is that it?”

“I’m not sure… I think there was… But how could that be?” Snow murmured almost to herself.

She glanced at the group and sighed heavily before speaking again, this time louder.

“I think it was Regina. She was there, with Henry.” She couldn’t believe she was even saying this.

The five pairs of eyes focused on her went wide.

“What do you mean she _was_ there?” Charming was as confused as everyone else. “You think all of this is real? Because if that’s the case, then what you saw would be happening right now, as we speak…”

“And that would be crazy, right? I mean, I don’t know... If you can think of any reason why Regina would be unloading the truck of Emma’s car, maybe?”

“Not really… But then their memories have been wiped away, or at least altered… We all know that magic can be quite unpredictable.”

“Finally, one thing that you’ll have properly learned. Make seemingly impossible things actually happen, that’s what magic does indeed,” a mocking voice came from behind them.

Charming and Snow watched Belle freeze as she gazed over their heads, a distant look on her face. She had turned so white that she looked like she might pass out.

“’Pa?” Neal let out with a disbelieving tone.

“Rumple…” Belle echoed, blinking several times. “Is -is that really you?”

“Yes. Yes, it’s really me,” Rumple answered with a voice rendered unsteady by the emotion.

She suddenly ran in his direction and he welcomed her with open-arms, holding her desperately close. She was now sobbing, the relief of seeing him and realizing that he hadn’t died overwhelming her with joy. The tears of despair were long forgotten but she would need time to process everything. One minute she thought she had lost him forever and the next he was standing in front of her, uninjured. It felt a lot like a miracle.

“Don’t you dare do that ever again,” Belle admonished. “I don’t want to hear you say goodbye for as long as I live. Wherever you go, I’ll go. No matter what happens, we’ll always have each other.”

“I’m so sorry Belle. I had no idea of what would happen. I didn’t want to possibly leave you forever and not say goodbye… I just wanted to do the right thing.”

“You did. It was really brave of you and I’m so proud. Just don’t do it again, okay?” She smiled through her tears.

“She’s right, you know? You should be proud, ‘Pa. You really did make the right decision,” Neal nodded, approaching his father and Belle, still clinging to each other.

“My turn?” He winked at Belle who let go off Rumple to let Neal hug him too.

When they pulled away, Rumple took both Belle and Neal’s hands in his.

“I promise it won’t happen again. I’ll never leave the two of you, ever. I love you both, so much.”

“We love you too, Rumple,” Belle smiled brightly.

They lost themselves in their happiness for a little while, the three of them gazing lovingly at one another, when they heard someone clear their throat close by and they almost jumped.

“Uh, I’m sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but talking about family, we very much would like to get ours back as well,” Charming awkwardly butted in. “What just happened might be of some help.”

“And I thought you had solved this already,” Rumple smirked.

“Not really… I mean, did we?” Charming glanced at Snow with a frown.

“Well, you figured out at least part of it. The rest, we –or at least _I_ , can deduce from what we already know. If I understood your little babbling correctly, you lost Regina on the way back and you Snow just happened to see her along with Henry in some sort of a vision. Am I correct?”

“That’s right, but…”

“And you didn’t see Emma at any moment, did you?” Rumple interrupted.

“I –I didn’t…” Snow realized as she blurted out her answer. “How do you…?”

“I think I know why,” he interrupted again, this time almost hesitating. Snow, Charming, Neal, Belle, they were all holding their breaths. Rumple was so excited that one could almost visualize his brain connecting the dots. They didn’t know where he was headed with his interrogation, but each answer elicited a satisfied smirk on his face. It had to be a good sign.

“So… You believe that all of this is real? You think that Snow really did see them?”

“Of course she did,” Rumple dismissed the question with an impatient gesture of his hand. “The only relevant question is _why_ all of this is happening. And I think I do have the answer to that crucial question,” he said with a triumphant look.

“The easy part is the reason of this vision. The bond created between a mother and her child is obviously stronger than the destruction of the bridge connecting their two worlds. You talked about a doorstep, which means your arrival must have triggered this ‘vision’. When you both found yourself on the threshold of your respective ‘homes’, that’s when the barrier was the thinnest between the two of you. That’s easy to understand, right?” Rumple asked, lifting his left brow in question.

“I guess…” Snow was trying to process the flow of information coming her way.

“And it also explains why you didn’t see Emma, of course. You had access to her by seeing _through_ her. Your minds are like the two ends of a bridge, they support the link that’s been formed between them.”

“What about Regina? What is she doing there?” Hooked intervened for the first time.

“That, my dear, is the unpredictable part. Now, I need to know if Regina had any physical contact with anyone when the curse was broken.”

Charming looked at the rest of them, but they all shook their heads. All but one.

“I think she did,” Granny hesitated. “When Emma and Henry got in the car, I think Henry touched Regina’s arm right before they crossed the line.”

“Oh, did he?” Rumple asked with a lopsided smile.

“What does it mean? What does Henry have to do with any of this?” Snow asked, alarm showing in her voice.

“The heart of the Truest Believer,” he said simply, a smile hovering on his lips. At the completely lost look of his audience, he felt obliged to explain further.

“He had everything to do with the situation at hand. I’d say he’s even the central piece of the puzzle.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he’s as powerful as his mother and me combined. Or at least he has the potential to be. When he touched Regina, he completely modified the spell she had created. Unconsciously, he projected all his wishes on her in that moment. He created himself the happy life he has been wishing for since he’d met Emma; a life in which he and his mothers would live together in harmony. No offense, Bae.”

“None taken,” Neal replied with a hint of bitterness he couldn’t hide.

Charming was still frowning.

“So they don’t remember anything, just like Regina had anticipated.”

“No they don’t. They’re living a normal and seemingly perfectly happy life. You, Snow, just happened to bump into them.”

“How’s that even possible?” Neal enquired. “Regina told us we could only go back if she didn’t see Henry ever again. And now, what? They’re living together? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Oh but it does. Magic is much more subtle than what you all give it credit for. She was willing to leave Henry go with Emma. That’s the spell she casted, that’s the memories she created for both of them. Technically, she paid the price she had to pay to get you all back. Henry’s own magic, a power he has never learnt to control, simply burst out of him under the influence of emotion when he realized he was going to lose his mother.”

Rumple had an oddly proud look on his face.

“This child has a lot of potential. But then it’s not all that surprising, if you consider the family whose genes he has inherited.”

The group was stunned to hear about all that and was avidly listening to Rumple, except for Snow. She was more preoccupied about the connection between her and Emma. She wanted to explore that lead and see where it could get them.

“You said I ‘bumped into them’. If I somehow managed to do that, then maybe there’s a way to get in contact with them. Maybe we can use that link to get them back. It could work, right?” Snow already felt boosted and ready to get to it.

“Maybe… In theory,” Rumple replied with a mischievous grin. “I have some ideas we could explore.”


End file.
